Captured in Time: Photography by Scarlett
“Photography is my way of slowing down time, of capturing the beauty of everyday reality and preserving it for generations to come. As I’ve experienced in my own family, children seemingly change every week. But with my camera I’m able to capture certain occasions and stages of their life that I will never lose,” says Scarlett Hendricks. A professional photographer, Hendricks has made a name for herself specializing in fine art portraiture in Shreveport for the past 17 years. This month, she opens her new studio and gallery, a freshly renovated property at 1311 Louisiana Street in Shreveport’s historic Highland district.
Hendricks shoots primarily in black and white, both in digital and medium format film. “Black and white images evoke a classical timelessness. When I studied with Mary Ellen Mark in New York, she told me, ‘Stay with film. It’s not dead. It’s art. It will be seen as a whole new craft someday.’ So I still do both.” An award-winning photographer, Hendricks was recently chosen to participate in the Triumph Over Tragedy project, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Great Depression era in north Louisiana. She has traveled from Santa Fe to Costa Rica to take master classes with greats like Josephine Sacabo, Joyce Tenneson, Jock Sturges, and Keith Carter.
Hendricks grew up in Tallulah, Louisiana, where she became fascinated by photography as a child, rummaging through antique photograph collections in curio shops. She grew up to become a pharmacist in Shreveport, where she settled down with her husband Jefferson, a professor of English and film studies at Centenary College. Soon after they met, she showed him her darkroom, and they spent hours chatting about their common passion for film. “He is my best pal, my inspiration. He feeds my artistic soul,” she says lovingly.
After giving birth to her two children, Hunter and ElizaBess, Hendricks took her passion for photography to the next level. When she started creating portraits of her children and taking them to work to show friends, her work turned quickly from a hobby into a new career as word spread about her work. “Photography for me is a way of not forgetting. I may not have thought much about it then, but now I treasure those images of my children. You can’t just go back to when they’re little again.”
“At the time I decided to start taking portraits, there were very few portrait photographers in the Shreveport area using black and white medium format film. I found my niche and created my own professional darkroom.” Hendricks still works in her darkroom today, but she has also embraced the wonders of the digital world, while staying true to her traditional aesthetics. “I try to convey a sense of classic elegance. I have a collection of old, late 1800s portraits on display in the studio. I’ve always loved these kinds of photographs; I want my work to have the same timeless look as these old portraits.”
Now, Hendricks’ classic collection has an appropriate home, hanging on the brick walls of a historic downtown gem. “It’s a cool, creative space. It’s open and airy, with the feeling of an old New York warehouse. I’ve created ten different natural environments in the space to shoot in,” she says. A 15-ft-high wall of windows graces one room, while a milieu of weathered wooden doors and beams, brick, stucco, and plaster walls, and ironwork designs paint the scene within the other studio vignettes. Two spiral staircases separate the main floor from the mezzanine, where antique ironwork creates another picturesque backdrop. “I put an old cemetery gate on the top of one part of the mezzanine, with fleur de lis fencing on either side.” Downstairs, local iron craftsman Derek Simmons added his touch with a front gate and a gracefully designed railing for the courtyard mezzanines.
When Hendricks first saw the space, it was owned by a video game repairman and had seen better days. The ceilings had been lowered and the space was stocked with arcade machines, pool tables, and junk parts. “I had a vision of what I wanted it to be, but I really didn’t know how difficult renovating a commercial piece of property would be—building codes, zoning, electric codes...even how much space between each banister rail means something. I learned a lot, and fast,” she laughs. “Being my own contractor was quite a journey. Through this whole experience, I’ve gained a new family. I couldn’t have done it without Gale and Wayne Simmons of C & C Electric and Barry and Lisa Doyle of Barry’s Quality Tile and Marble. The things they helped me with were endless, and the extra time they put in was invaluable. It took a village to create this place,” she sighs happily.
“I rented from Neil Johnson for ten years at his studio next door. He is a dear friend, and it was such an honor to have rented studio space from him. As a leading commercial photographer, he lent me credibility. It’s sort of bittersweet to leave, but now we’re neighbors—my new place is just next door. We’re calling ourselves the photo district.”
Now that Hendricks is working in her new space, she wants to produce more limited edition gallery work along with her commissioned portraits. “I’d also like to use the studio as an exhibition space for other artists. There are so many possibilities in a beautiful place like this,” she says. Hendricks is enjoying sessions in her new studio, playing around with the realm of possibilities created by her new, elegant vignettes. “I do a lot of sessions in the studio. I also enjoy shooting in people’s homes and in places that mean something to them. I love recording the relationships between people. I make a connection with the subject in each portrait,” she says. “I like photographing children the best. They’re less aware of the camera, and that allows me to capture something more spontaneous and natural.”
“I see the subject’s personality come through their eyes, their smile. People ask me ,‘What should I bring? What kind of clothes?’ I’m not photographing the clothes, really. I’m photographing your face, your eyes, and most of all, what’s behind them.” ✦
